GUJRAT: Shahbaz Sharif Park, regarded as the biggest park in Gujranwala division, has been a victim of official neglect as the local administration and civic authorities are not paying any heed to the calls of citizens for the maintenance of this recreational facility.

Spread over at least 92 acres along the Gujrat side of the Chenab bank, the basic facilities in the park such as swings, benches, fountains, jogging track, flowering plants and green lawns have been facing neglect from the officials concerned.

Ever-growing grass, flower plants and bushes along the two-kilometre long jogging track are hardly cut by the park caretakers whereas heaps of garbage and stray dogs can be seen everywhere in the park causing more inconvenience to the visitors.

The visitors who regularly come here for jogging complain that there are snakes, frogs and other insects which pose threat to them in the presence of bushes and grown-up grass.

The park also has a cricket ground with floodlights where some tournaments had been organised around five years ago but this ground too has never witnessed the game for the last almost three to four years.

The Punjab government had established this park at a cost of around Rs200 million in 2015-16 and then deputy commissioner Liaqat Chattha had constituted a committee comprising local businessmen to look after the public facility.

The committee had devised a plan to make the park self-reliant by generating income through auction of canteen, cafeteria, amusement facilities for kids and families-oriented activities.

However, the park went under the control of different local government institutions from December 2016 when the district council took over its reigns. In 2019 the district council stood dissolved and the park went to the tehsil council and now after the fresh demarcation of city’s limits by the local government department, the park is in the control of the municipal corporation.

Facing shortage of staff particularly the sweepers, gardeners and watchmen, the Gujrat MC has been unable in ensuring maintenance of the park for the last more than a year.

The administration had proposed establishment of the Parks and Horticulture Authority and its summary was approved by the then Punjab government in 2017, however, the PHA formation is being awaited.

Moreover, the officials concerned in MC said the ban on recruitment of required staff was a major problem for it in maintaining public parks in the city as the situation in three other public parks was also not different from that of Shahbaz Sharif Park.

Gujrat Deputy Commissioner Mehtab Waseem Azhar, who is also the GtMC administrator, said he had already issued a direction to the chief officer for cleaning the park and he would personally inspect it along with the officials concerned in the next few days.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2021